Baseball:
Don Drysdale (Dodgers). Fourteen years, and he only had one manager in all that time, making him the person who played his entire career the longest with just one single team under a single manager (no, no Philadelphia Athletic stayed with the team 14 years).

BTW, the question as asked would include thousands of "cup of coffee" type players like Steve Baker (four years with the NY Rangers) or Sean Fitzmaurice (a handful of games for the NY Mets)

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This isn't unusual in the NFL where careers even for very good players can be short. I'll mention Otto Graham (10 years) and Jim Brown (9 years) for the Browns, but one of the longest single team players must be Lou "The Toe" Groza. He played from 1946 to 1959 as a tackle and place kicker for the Browns in the AAFC and the NFL. After retiring for one season he came back as a kicking specialist and played from 1961-67. That's 21 seasons over 22 years for a single team.

BTW, the question as asked would include thousands of "cup of coffee" type players like Steve Baker (four years with the NY Rangers) or Sean Fitzmaurice (a handful of games for the NY Mets)

I was gonna say, you need some sort of limit on this (like "all pro" or "hall of fame"), otherwise you'd get the vast majority of people who ever played a professional game. At least in the NFL, where careers are short and trades are limited.

There's a lot of one club players in soccer, but here's a few notable ones:

Paolo Maldini, AC Milan 1985-2009 (joined the the club's youth team in 1978) 902 games.
During his time there played every single position at some point.

Ryan Giggs, Manchester United 1990-present (joined the youth team in 1985) 926 games.
If he can get a goal this year, will have scored in every single league season for the last 23 years.

Matt Le Tissier, Southampton 1986-2002 (joined youth team in 1985) 540 games.
Despite being arguably the most talented player in the early Premiership days did not transfer to a bigger club. Southampton were relegated soon after he retired.

Mike Schmidt played his whole MLB career for the Phillies. There's dedication for you.

Schmidt hit 548 home runs with the Phillies. To my admitted surprise, that is the most homers ever hit by a player who only ever played for one team. (It isn't the most hit for one franchise - that's still Hank Aaron - but it's the most ever hit for one franchise by a guy who never hit one for anyone else.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NitroPress

A lot of baseball players stayed with one team before free agency, the more so the further back you go.

This is a common statement but it's really not all that true. It has always been unusual for players to stay with one team their whole careers. Cy Young didn't play for just one team, Babe Ruth didn't, and nor did Tris Speaker or Ty Cobb or Eddie Collins or... well, you get the idea. You had your Stan Musials, sure, but then today you've got Craig Biggios.

In all of baseball history, there are fewer than seventy players who have played 15 seasons in the major leagues and only played for one team. A surprising number of them are players of relatively recent vintage; Biggio, but also Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and others. There have been a LOT of one-team players in the free agent era - Schmidt mentined above, Alan Trammell, Ozzie Smith, Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Tony Gwynn, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken, George Brett, Willie Stargell.

Another interesting thing about Maldini as well as playing for AC Milan for 25 years (and winning the European Cup 5 times with them, more than any other player in history) or 31 years if you count the youth level, his father also played for AC Milan from 1954-1966 (winning the European Cup with them) and managed them in 1973-1974 and again in 2001. Currently both of Paolo Maldini's sons play for AC Milan's youth teams.

Doesn't necessarily mean they'll finish with that team yet -- Franco Harris played his last season in Seattle and Mike Modano signed with the Red Wings before he retired. (Although Dallas gave him a one-day contract so he could officially retire a Star)

Jackie Robinson played ten years with Brooklyn Dodgers, before he was traded to the arch rival New York Giants. However, Robinson retired, instead of playing for the Giants, to take a job with Chock Full O'nuts

Doesn't necessarily mean they'll finish with that team yet -- Franco Harris played his last season in Seattle and Mike Modano signed with the Red Wings before he retired. (Although Dallas gave him a one-day contract so he could officially retire a Star)

So technically, current players probably don't count.

I'll go with what we have.

Iginla may yet play for someone else in a "get the guy a ring" trade. I doubt Alfredsson will ever leave - in fact I doubt he'll play beyond this year at all - and Brodeur will certainly not.

Then I'll keep my own list in my own head with Brodeur on top. And you can't stop me.

Fine with me. I was just saying that you never know. And if we wanna go that route, chances are that Sidney Crosby's gonna be a Penguin for life. At least that seems to be the plan. Hell, Consol Energy Center has a capacity of 18,087 for hockey games. That should tell you something.

Tim Thomas is probably done. I doubt his "break" is going to end any time soon.

And I named Yzerman and Mikita in my first post. So neener neener neener!

Rocky Blier for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Would Joe Sakic count? He didn't change teams -- he stayed with the Nordiques after they moved to Colorado and became the Avalanche.

Schmidt hit 548 home runs with the Phillies. To my admitted surprise, that is the most homers ever hit by a player who only ever played for one team. (It isn't the most hit for one franchise - that's still Hank Aaron - but it's the most ever hit for one franchise by a guy who never hit one for anyone else.)

That was a statistic about him that I didn't know, but it doesn't surprise me. He retired when his numbers dropped too low for his own standards, and turned down opportunities to DH in the AL. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, the only player elected that year in their first year of eligibility. He has impressive numbers for a 1980s ballplayer.

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